Eastern Conference NBA Play-In Tournament games hit new heights on ESPN

ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Play-In Tournament this week reached an impressive mark, just as TNT Sports’ coverage did.

The two games airing on Wednesday were the two most-watched Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament games ever.

In the early window, Heat-76ers averaged 3.403 million viewers, the most-watched Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament game ever and a 52% spike from last year’s comparable game on TNT.

In the late window, Hawks-Bulls ranked just behind with 3.071 million viewers, a 31% increase from the comparable game a year ago on TNT and the second most-watched Eastern Conference Play-In game ever.

On Tuesday , TNT Sports’ coverage of the two Western Conference Play-In games also drew strong viewership. The two games ranked as the second and third most-watched Play-In games ever.

The four Play-In Tournament games rank in the NBA’s top ten audiences of the season, per Sports Media Watch . The games ranking ahead of them were either on ABC or were the NBA’s two All-Star Weekend events on TNT.

Like the In-Season Tournament, the Play-In Tournament can be criticized as a bit gimmicky. However, there’s been fan excitement for both tournaments this year, and we’re seeing that excitement in the strong viewership for both. While all four Play-In games to date rank in the league’s ten most-watched games of the year, the In-Season Tournament final ranked third , behind just the All-Star Game and Celtics-Lakers on Christmas Day. Viewership for the early rounds of the In-Season Tournament also increased compared to regular-season games in the same windows a year ago .

The In-Season Tournament concludes on Friday with Bulls-Heat at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN and Kings-Pelicans at 9:30 p.m. ET on TNT.

[ ESPN ]

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